And people thought Bush trampled on our civil rights with the Patriot Act. The Obama administration is going to go down in history as one of the biggest power grabbing administrations in our history.

To all of those who voted for Obama: You elected this.
Granted that Bush and McCain were not all that great of an alternative but I think that most of us would prefer incompetence over tyranny.

Sad thing is, the daughter of a friend of mine is dating a young man who has a music sharing site. Everything on the site is from indie bands and he has legally obtained permission to post/host all of their original work. He's fearing a shutdown though he's operated totally within the law. To be noted ASCAP has threatened local coffee houses for having live, indie acts performing their own original works.

OK. Now, dry your tears and check out this article:

Run, Russ, Run
http://counterpunch.org/cockburn11262010.html

His was the single Senate vote against the Patriot Act.

You are so on the money, Jack! Bullseye!

It won't be long until WEBsites that dis-agree with the party in power will get shut down for some variation on this theme.

Very progressive.

Interesting. Incompetence or tyranny.

Actually, it's one and the same.

When Bush "trampled" our civil rights, Joe Six Pack didn't seem to get stomped on. Obama is an equal opportunity trampler: Even granny's girdle gets a groping.

This is not a dems vs GOP thing.

It's clear both parties are equally adept at trampling on rights.

And that is what is scaring me.

this has been debunked. the guy who wrote the article is the guy who's actually behind this. so all of this is false.

Wikileaks, which is winding up to release more embarrassing information about the venality and failures of our overlords, is under "cyber attack" as we speak. By whom? What is worse than their constructing legal fictions for coming in the front door is that they've been given free rein to come in the back door at will. If they come in the front door, you still have at least some hope of re-imposing Constitutional rights and the rule of law. Once they've been given free rein to come in the back door as they please we are right there with our own Stasi. There is no longer any hope of recourse to rule of law.

I have long hoped that we would have a second American revolution to put human needs ahead of profit. Instead, it looks like we are going to have to go back and have the fight for habeas and innocent until proven guilty and entitlement to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness all over again. The founders are crying in their graves.

all of this is false.

The desire on the part of some to get to this state of affairs is real. I hope you're right, though, that we haven't gone this far.

If the latest story is a hoax, this one wasn't:

http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1006/100630losangeles.htm

Apparently this is a hoax with a point.

To clarify: Governments, given unlimited power, always become tyrannical. Those who wrote our Constitution (one of the most brilliant documents ever produced) understood this. That's why most of our Constitution spells out what government WILL NOT do..."Congress shall make no law..."

Our Constitution does not guarantee anybody anything. It does guarantee that government will be limited to certain specific functions and that the freedom of the individual will be unlimited.